In the first nine months of 2013, individual life insurance premiums improved 4 percent.

“While every other product line experienced positive growth in the third quarter, universal life sales were hampered by sustained low interest rates, a volatile investment environment and increased reserve requirements introduced in 2013,” said Ashley Durham, senior analyst, LIMRA insurance Research. “We anticipate universal life sales to continue to decline through the fourth quarter.”

LIMRA is a worldwide research, consulting and professional organization, is the trusted source of industry knowledge, helping more than 850 insurance and financial service companies in 64 countries increase their marketing and distribution effectiveness.

According to LIMRA, universal life (UL) new annualized premiums fell 8 percent in the third quarter, resulting in a 1 percent increase year-to-date. A 31 percent drop in lifetime guarantee UL premium and a 98 percent plunge in term UL premium were the key drivers of the decline.

Indexed UL (IUL) premium increased 10 percent in the third quarter and 18 percent for the first three quarters of the year. IUL market share represented a record 35 percent of UL premium and 13 percent of total individual life insurance new annualized premiums – its highest level.

Whole Life (WL) new annualized premium rose 2 percent in the third quarter, which is weaker than recent quarters. However, it is the 17th consecutive quarter of positive growth. For the first three quarters of 2013, WL improved more than 5 percent, compared with prior years.

WL policy count was flat in the third quarter, resulting in a 2 percent decline year-to-date.

Term new annualized premiums grew 5 percent in the third quarter, improving 4 percent year-to-date. Like last quarter, most of the growth is due to companies discontinuing Term UL and reintroducing traditional term products and those with specific initiatives to increase term sales.

Term policy count was flat in the third quarter, compared with prior years, resulting in 2 percent growth for the first nine months of 2013.

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